Kenzie fumed inside. Fucking relic hunters. You just couldn’t trust ’em an inch. “What is it now?”
“We want both vases and the shield.”
“Of course you do. You’re a fucking gangster.” She shook her head, now unsure if there was going to be a way out of this. She should have known better, being an ex-gangster herself. How often had she seen the spoils and gone after them wholeheartedly, jealously, with aggression in her heart? The same heart in which Dahl saw some kind of integrity.
Dahl now coughed and drew himself upright, moved his own hands away from his weapons. “I urge you all to remember that it is we that hold the artifacts. Our commodity. Our rules. We want the buyer, other buyers and the corrupt ties involved. I suggest the first man to get his ass in gear stands a better chance of winning.”
“Hallelujah,” Kenzie moaned. “And that should be man’s only motto.”
Patric laid a meat slab on Paul’s shoulder. The second man spoke as if receiving the speech through his subconscious. “You bring the English to a French bar? Are you mad?”
Kenzie knew it was a joke, but had reached the end of her tether. Her guns, one in each hand, targeted both leaders. “Fuck this,” she growled. “Make your decisions now. Deal . . . or die.”
Both men looked down the barrels of her guns and smiled.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
In the aftermath of battle, a quiet peace and reflection reigned. Drake wished they had done more to assuage the villagers’ fears. Wished they had unmasked—or unclothed—at least one creature to categorically prove it was human. Just human.
But the illusion remained, as clear as natural water, that the black-clad figures were not human.
He shivered despite every facet of his training. He shied away from it despite every year of experience. Yes, they possessed arms and legs, a heart and a head, but normal people did not move and fight like that. They did not work as a horde like that. This was something . . . something abnormal.
He walked now in the cold light of dawn, following the bare trail back to Kimbiri. Alicia and Hayden were with him, and the old man Conde with three of his friends. The idea was to let the elders meet, discuss, and help with the solution. Drake’s main hope was that Kimbiri also hadn’t been beset in the night.
“We are grateful you helped Nuno last night,” Conde said to Hayden. “None of our people were taken for the first time in months.”
“We are happy to help,” Hayden told him. “Very happy. But you have to understand that our actions now raise a new question . . .” she paused, and Drake knew by her expression that she was thinking how best to delicately phrase her next comment.
“How will the mountain-spiders react?” Alicia said bluntly.
Conde stared at the Englishwoman whilst Hayden sighed. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t get it, old man, do you?” Alicia went on. “Right now they’re probably hanging around in their webs, licking their wounds, eating flies or something. But they’ve never been attacked like that before. Beaten away. It won’t stop them. It’ll make them come at you harder.”
Hayden held up a hand. “We don’t know that for sure. Alicia’s speaking from a soldier’s point of view. It’s what she would do. The creatures are a major unknown quantity, so we have to prepare for the worst scenario.”
Drake took in the scenery as they talked, which always lifted his spirits. Empty spaces ran as far as the eye could see; green slopes and forested hills, extensive mountain ranges and clear blue skies. He breathed deeply, savoring the freshness, enjoying the depth of silence that inhabited these lonely places. The trail ran ahead, undulating gently. He took out a bottle of water and drank, noting it was his last and wondering if there might be some fresh mountain stream where he could refill. Then he laughed at himself. Talk about getting carried away.
Alicia nudged him. “You with us, Drakey?”
“Yeah, just reminds me of home that’s all.”
The blonde snorted. “Really? Well, shit, I don’t see any power stations. Or steel mills. Or even chocolate factories, for that matter.”
“Nah, but I heard these hills are crawling with alpacas so watch your bloody back.”
Alicia narrowed her eyes as she studied the hills and mountains. “Nothing’s moving out there.”
“Ya think? Alpacas are shifty. They blend. They crawl. They can be upon you before you know they’re even there. The whole pack.”
“How come I never heard of anything as dangerous as that?”
“I guess you’re not a mountain girl.” He felt a moment of real concern. “On the other hand, of course, the creatures or their bosses or whatever are probably watching.” He tried to penetrate the far, high passes with his gaze. “And if the village does have a spy . . .” He shrugged.
“Nobody left during the night or this morning.”
“That doesn’t mean they won’t. They’ll play it safe. Fetch water. Hunt. Whatever it is they do.” He half-laughed, realizing he had no idea how the villagers subsisted beyond farming the land. “Of course, we’re being stupid. A spy would have a cellphone.”
“Not much service out here.”
“A satellite phone,” Drake amended. “Maybe we should ask—” He clamped his mouth shut, realizing he’d been about to finish the sentence with the words “Karin to trace it.” A torrent of past images rushed through him; images of people they’d lost and faces long gone. Kennedy, Sam, Jo and Ben. They lived only when he remembered them now, only when he let them.
“I wonder where Karin is?” he asked.
Alicia seemed to catch a tension in his voice. “What do you mean? Training, isn’t she?”
“Karin finished her training two weeks ago. Nobody I know has heard from her since.”
Alicia pursed her lips. “You know she’s Army now, right? They could have sent her out on an op.”
“That wasn’t the deal. And it’s basic training. Not Shaolin Monk 99th Dan.”
“It’s basic army training at Fort Bragg. Special Forces. Rangers. That ain’t basic at all.”
“I guess . . .” Drake tailed off.
“You’re worried about her, I get it. But this is Karin. When she surfaces she’ll get a hold of us.” Alicia grinned. “She’s family.”
Drake grinned back as a cold rush of wind scoured his face. Of course, Alicia was right. What surprised and elated him was her newfound reasoning, her ability to see the good in people where until recently she’d have found only the negatives in that conversation. It convinced him to pull ahead with her and whisper something else. “And something else has been bugging me for a while now.”
Alicia crinkled her nose. “Ah, Matt, I know exactly what you’re gonna say.”
“You do? How could you?”
“Because it’s on all our minds. Branded there with a hot iron. I think of it as Webb’s legacy. I wonder who’s embarrassed all the time. Who cries themselves to sleep. Who killed their parents. Who is dying.” She took a breath. “But most important—who’s a bloody lesbian?”
Drake shook his head. “It’s not you, is it?”
“Depends on the female. I guess I could be persuaded.”
Drake considered asking for a list, then remembered the track of their conversation. “So you do wonder about Webb’s legacy?”
“We all do. No doubt.”
“It should be . . . addressed. It shouldn’t hang over the team forever.”
“Yeah, but then I guess you weren’t one of the people Webb spoke of. If you were . . .” She shrugged.
Drake nodded in agreement. “I guess you’re right. The other side, of course—Webb has a stash of nasty revelations somewhere which we haven’t even started searching for.”
“I prefer not to think of it. Joking aside, some of those revelations could kill us. Or put us on the run from the law.” She looked worried.
Drake saw Kimbiri appear up ahead and fought off the feelings raised by Webb’s legacy. Villagers had already seen them and wer
e hotfooting it back to the houses. As they grew closer he saw a crowd gathered on the outskirts, Kinimaka, Smyth, Mai and Yorgi among them. His heart lifted to see his friends.
He slowed, allowing Hayden and Conde to catch up. Kimbiri’s villagers stood stoic, their faces weatherbeaten and grim, their outlook worse. As the two groups came together the wind started to blow harder, scouring the lands and exposed flesh, tugging at warm clothing as if in anger. A howl went up among the distant mountains, causing most sets of eyes to glance up there.
A wolf maybe. Or something else.
“The mountains,” Conde said. “Kept their secrets for millennia. I wonder why they couldn’t keep them just a while longer.”
“These things aren’t from the mountains,” Drake said. “Not until recently. They’re man-made.”
The two groups joined and exchanged greetings. Brynn stepped up to help translate for her people as Hayden quickly explained the events of the night before. Nobody seemed surprised and nobody expressed concern other than in their faces. Hardy lives bred hardier responses.
“We have all lost people,” Conde said. “Now we need to find them. And end the attacks on our families and their homes.”
“The creatures will be planning their next move,” Emilio, the leader of Kimbiri, said through Brynn. “A response or a harsher attack. We cannot trust anyone. We tried the police of Cusco. Nothing happened. We try again.” He shook his head. “We are alone. But these people. These soldiers. They have helped, yes, but even they are here for something. What is it that you want, soldiers?”
Conde looked a little uncomfortable with the question, no doubt since it was his village the soldiers had helped the night before, but Drake saw Hayden take it at face value.
“As we said, initially we came to the mountains to ask for your help. There is a chateau in this area, and a man that lives a quiet life. We believe he is stealing and selling local treasures. If you know of him . . .” She spread her hands.
No reactions were forthcoming. Brynn said, “It is a large area.”
Hayden shifted. “We are soldiers. But we shouldn’t be here. Sometimes, we operate without sanction, and without a local government’s knowledge. The truth? This was supposed to be a quick in-and-out op. We never expected to stay.”
“So the Americans are coming?” Conde asked. “To save us?”
“Ah. No. Our bosses don’t know we stayed,” Hayden admitted. “Nobody is coming. They wouldn’t risk it even if we asked.”
“And we could be called back at any moment,” Smyth put in harshly. “So let’s say we get on with this, eh? Some of us are missing our . . . friends.”
“We do not need your help,” Brynn said with a great deal of pride. “Now that we know of Nuno’s position, we can join our forces. We can fight them off.”
Drake studied the assembled faces, the fear, the youth, the rictus-like smiles that barely held up. “It will not be easy.”
Alicia fiddled with her jacket. “They are strong because their numbers are strong.”
Brynn’s gaze never faltered. “We can win.”
At that moment a young man stepped forward. Drake guessed he would be in his mid-teens. The youth stood right before Brynn and held her stare with his own. In halting English for the benefit of the soldiers he said, “At night we hear . . . screaming? Yes, screaming . . . from the mountains. We see far away lights . . . marching. The creatures bring the darkness, but they vanish toward the lights. Those mountains . . . are haunted.”
Drake nodded. “I understand why you might think that.”
The youth whirled, grabbed Drake’s arm and pulled. “No! They are haunted. Do not go there. You have to believe me!”
Alicia reached out for the youth but Mai was quicker. The Japanese woman knelt on the floor so their eyes were level. “Have you been up there, my friend? Have you seen the ghosts?”
The quivering started in his shoulders and went right down to his knees. Mai held on tight, practically holding him up.
“What have you seen?”
“Evil,” he whispered, biting his lips until the blood ran red. “The most terrible evil.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Alicia fought hard to sift through the swirling eddy of emotion that pounded at her. Only recently returned from a side mission in the Caribbean where she’d lost one of her own, she still struggled to process the young man’s death. Thrust into this new operation, at first a swift mission, now more akin to a rescue or search and destroy exercise, she had begun to feel a little overwhelmed. And with the presence of Drake and Mai, and the ongoing complications within the team, she battled the increasing urge to cut loose.
You can’t abandon the villagers.
Is that the only reason you’re staying?
No, she stayed for Drake and the rest of her new family. Even friggin’ Mai. Because even the runt deserved some loyalty. She stayed because she felt and embraced a duty to do so. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but worry about her other team and how they were coping. It didn’t help that the lands around here were as hostile as the goddamn enemy, and even the wildlife was deadly. Not that she’d laid eyes on anything yet. Only heard the distant cry of wolves.
She ended up sitting with Kinimaka. “How’s it going? Hayden still being a bitch?”
The Hawaiian was retying his laces, probably to make sure he didn’t fall over them. “You can be very blunt, can’t you?”
“Shit, piss off. Me? Nah, I’m a motherfucking princess.”
“Funny. I’ve never seen that quality.”
“You should look a bit deeper. Outside, yeah I’m nasty. Dangerous, hot and immensely shaggable, but inside . . .” She paused, thinking. “Well, I dunno. Maybe ask Drake.”
“Hayden and I are done, to answer your initial question.”
Alicia heard a call, then rose and offered a hand. “Then move on.”
“Easy for you to say.” Kinimaka heaved up, using the house at his back for balance and then gauging it as if to make sure it wasn’t about to fall down. “Moving on for me means literally moving on.”
Alicia looked to where Drake and Hayden were assembling a team. “The team would be damaged without you, Mano.”
“You left. Once or twice.”
She winced. “Yeah, and I came back.”
“We always worked well together.”
She steered him toward the group. “You two made a good team before you started doing the Pork Sword dance. You could be still.”
“She’s not the same.”
“We all change, Mano. Get used to it. But she’ll change again, have no doubt. And maybe you’ll be there for that.” She gripped his arm as they came within earshot if the group. “If you want to be.”
Alicia took in the scene. The SPEAR team stood around in reserved silence, weapons prepared, packs full, warm coats and hats and other equipment at the ready. The young man that had seen the mountain’s ghosts stood with his head held high and his eyes wide, looking every which way except toward the mist-shrouded heights. Two grown-ups were with him—the boy’s parents. The debate had centered around the boy’s knowledge and necessity, but when Hayden finally pointed out that he’d be safer with the team than back at the village, the tone soon changed. Several volunteers were offered. A new debate threatened to start up. It was Mai and Brynn that pointed out that the morning was wasting away and if the trekkers didn’t want to be out after dark then they should get going.
Alicia fell in next to Drake, looking into the village from the outskirts. Narrow paths wound between houses, funneling the winds. Most of the inhabitants and Conde stood in the crowd of watchers, facing the mountains and its terrors. In truth, they had placed an awful lot on the boy and his daring past act, but even Emilio and Clareta vouched for him, and the way he spoke convinced them even further.
He knew something. And some kind of trauma was keeping him silent.
Alicia kept a sharp eye on the terrain as they headed for the lowest point between two m
ountains. Their slopes looked brown from this distance, almost barren, but the closer they came the more she began to see an abundance of small green bushes and trees. Clear trails meandered up toward the heights, passing a few brave, solitary farmhouses along the way. The ground was rocky, uneven, threatening to give way at every step. They traversed the path between mountains and then began to climb the eastern slope, rising gradually. The village grew small below and then the trail wound around to the northern slope and it fell out of sight.
Hayden called a brief watering stop and took the time to ask the boy if he’d been able to keep his bearings. For the first time he looked confident and a little haughty.
“Of course. I was born here.”
The morning waned and soon became afternoon. Deeper into the mountains they went, one slope merging with the next until even Alicia had to concentrate hard to remember the way back. Trouble was, everything looked the bloody same once you were up here. A deep chill saturated the air, making her draw her jacket close around her.
“Any chance we can stop for a bite to eat?” Kinimaka panted at last. “I’m famished.”
“Seconded.” Alicia slapped Drake across the shoulders. “Did you pack the sarnies, dear?”
The Yorkshireman sighed but dug out a pack of rations. They wouldn’t eat the villagers’ food; not until they had to. Three gulps and the meal was gone. Kinimaka looked nothing less than miserable. Smyth was chomping at the bit, eyes probing the landscape as if his head were in the game, but Alicia guessed where his thoughts were really at. Yorgi was keeping quiet as usual and Mai was staying close to the kid, offering support where need be. Alicia thought of a few motherly digs but decided now was not the right time.
The mountains held jealously to a depth of silence that had a striking resonance all of its own. Alicia felt small and insignificant, walking among its timeless slopes, an emotion she hadn’t entertained for some time. She kept her eyes on the vast landscape.
“Do you think the kid’s lost?” she asked Drake quietly. “We’ve been out here for hours now and he made this journey at night.”
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